I resubmitted the litany of complaints I have been repeating for the last year or so, for investigation by the disabilities office. Dr. Hull refused the NASA et al. emails and said I did not submit them per the protocols; protocols which I had never received and which he did not give me.
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February 14, 2002
Sherri S. Sanders, Ph.D. Associate Dean of Students Office of the Dean of Students University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712
Dear Dr. Sanders,
Thank you for your letter of February 12, 2002. I am writing to you in order to file a formal grievance for discrimination on the basis of disability against Dr. Terry Kahn and Dr. David Hull; among others. I have discussed this situation with Ms. Joseph, and it seems she is not able to help me in this matter, since it is closely associated with the appeal I have made to my dismissal from the Aerospace graduate program. I request that, in filing this complaint with you, it does not imply Ms. Joseph has not done her job; the problem is that the issues involve informal graduate policies and issues of educational freedom, for which she cannot help.
I am the person issuing the complaint, and my disability is severe chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Specifics are as follows. I will describe the events in reverse order.
- I submitted documentation over the Christmas holiday to the Physics Graduate Coordinator, Ms. Norma Kotz, to apply to the Physics graduate program. This material included several letters of reference on my When I found out I could appeal my dismissal from graduate school, I asked Ms. Kotz to forward the materials she had to the Graduate College for consideration in my appeal. She told me in an email around January 10, 2001 that she called Dr. Kahn, and then sent the materials to him. About ten days later I was told by Dr. Kahn that he would not forward these materials to Dr. Hull for consideration in my appeal. Why, then, did he have Ms. Kotz send the documents to him in the first place? Dr. Kahn is aware ofmy disability, as I told him and also Ms. Joseph told him (with my permission). The persons whom I asked to write letters of reference are Dr.s PAM Abusali, Anthony Bedford, Roger Broucke, and Don Chambers; all in the UT Aerospace Department, and Dr. William Jefferys in the UT Astronomy Department.
Clark- 2
- Last fall I put all my research on the web (http://www.inviticus.com) and emailed experts all over the world to ask for their evaluations of my research, and for them to be on my dissertation committee. I received many nice comments on my research, and three or four individuals wanted to be on my dissertation committee. I sent all these letters to Dr. Hull to be included as part of my appeal. He said he would not consider them because I did not also send him the original letter I had emailed to these individuals. I did not have that letter, so I emailed all the people back (including those whom had submitted letters of reference to the Physics program for me in item #1) and asked them to confirm what they had said, directly to Dr. Hull. Most of them did so, as they sent copies to me. Dr. Hull wrote me back soon after, saying he would not accept these letters either as part of the appeal. Dr. Hull is aware of my disability, as of the middle of October, 2001 when I told him in an email. The aforementioned email letters were from
P.AM.Abusali <abusali@csr.utexas.edu> – a senior researcher at CSR
Juris Vagners <vagners@aa.washington.edu> – a professor of aerospace engineering Frank Tveter <f.t.tveter@dnmi.no> – a researcher in astrophysics
Rick Greenberg <greenber@pirlmail.lpl.ArizonaEDU> – an expert in celestial mechanics Jorg Kampmann <kampmann@ibk-consult.de> – an computer expert in optimization Robert Tolson <rhtolson@earthlink.net> – a professor in orbital mechanics
Nicholas A Netreba <netreba@ai-solutions.com> – a vendor in optimization software Steve Wichman <Steve.Wichman@colorado.edu> – a professor of orbital mechanics John R Birge <jrbirge@northwestern.edu> – dean of engineering at Northwestern
- I believe both of these actions will harm my appeal to dismissal from graduate school, especially since a major part of my case is that those individuals in the Aerospace Department whom have reviewed (and will review) my research are not as qualified as the above named individuals to comment on my research.
- I asked to submit a paper to the regional AIAA Student conference being held at UT Austin this April. Glen Lightsey, a professor in the UT Aerospace Engineering department and a member ofmy appeal committee appointed by Dr. Hull, refused to allow me to present a paper at this conference. I contacted several student representatives of the AIAA elsewhere in the US concerning this problem:
Miranda Murdock <mrockin@hotmail.com> John Jacklin <jbj@cc.usu.edu>
Their rsponse is that I am eligible to present papers at the UT conference since I am a member of AIAA, a student at UT Austin, and hold a MS in Aerospace Engineering. The only condition imposed by AIAA is that I would not be eligible for a prize. Dr. Lightsey is hurting my appeal by prohibiting me from presenting my research at this conference.
Clark- 3
- My original dismissal from graduate school (REF: a formal letter written by Hull dated December 14, 2001) was ostensibly because my advisor at the time, Dr. Wallace Fowler, quit as my advisor and nobody else in the orbital mechanics group would agree to be my advisor. Yet, a few weeks earlier every member of the orbits group agreed to be on my oral exam committee (which by default becomes the dissertation committee) – Dr.s Schutz, Ocampo, Lightsey, and Fowler were all issued formal letters from the
Department advising them of the time and place of my oral exam (it was to be December 18, 2001); Dr. Mack agreed to be a back up in case somebody could not make the scheduled exam. (Dr. Hull required me to have this back up; since he said he would not extend the deadline for passing the oral exam under any circumstances.) I believe these individuals all refused to be my advisor because Dr. Fowler told them of my disability. Dr. Fowler, in fact, placed a condemnatory letter in my personnel file in the Aerospace Department, partially explaining his actions and mostly based upon false allegations.
- On or about October 15 I told s Fowler and Hull was disabled, and that I had an
appointment to see a therapist at the Austin VA Clinic in early December. This was the first anybody in the Department knew of my disability. Within a few days I received a registered letter from Dr. Hull saying he was requiring me to take the oral qualifying exam before the spring 2002 semester. He then placed a bar on my registration, which will be confirmed by the Aerospace Graduate Coordinator Nita Pollard. There is no specific time limit stated in any of the rules of the Aerospace Department on when to take the oral exam after passing the written exams (I passed them in June 2001). I know current grad students who have taken a year; one couple in the Ph.D. program – Hari and Andy – took over two years because they were engaged, and then got married. Dr. Hull had no authority to impose this false deadline upon me. I believe he did so because he found out I was disabled.
I would appreciate any assistance you could offer in resolving these issues. Regards,
William H. Clark II, P.E
21203 Paseo de Vaca Street
Lago Vista TX 78645
